Series in Brief: The Penguins Are Really in Trouble

Marc-Olivier Cook
Series in Brief: The Penguins Are Really in Trouble
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

There were three games in the National Hockey League last night.

And for those of you wondering… no, the Canadiens weren't in action.

Let's see what happened: 

1: The Penguins are really in trouble 

The series between the Penguins and the Flyers headed to Philadelphia for Game #3 between the two teams.

The Flyers, leading 2-0, weren't about to slow down…

Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring in yesterday's game, but that's when the Flyers woke up. Trevor Zegras tied the game:

And after Zegras' goal, Rasmus Ristolainen scored his first career playoff goal:

Did you think the Flyers were done with their demolition job?

Not so fast…

The Penguins tried to get back into the game in the third period thanks to a goal by Erik Karlsson, but the Flyers simply wouldn't have any of it.

Noah Cates scored his team's fourth goal, and the Flyers never looked back:

The Flyers won 5-2 and now lead the series 3-0.

Things aren't going too well for Sidney Crosby's team, then. And they'd better wake up before it's too late…

2: Another quiet night for Connor McDavid 

The Ducks are a dangerous team.

And the Oilers are starting to get that message: halfway through yesterday's game, Connor McDavid and his crew were trailing 3-1.

Connor Murphy cut the Oilers' deficit to one goal with a nice shot:

But the Ducks are young… and above all, they look hungry.

That play by Ryan Poehling sums it all up pretty well:

The Oilers, trailing by two goals, really needed a spark.

And that's exactly what happened late in the second period, when Zach Hyman scored his first goal of the 2026 playoffs to cut the deficit to just one goal. This game wasn't over yet…

Early in the third period, Josh Samanski sent Rogers Place into a frenzy.

The game-tying goal brought everyone back to square one with just over 13 minutes left in the game:

But… the Ducks held the lead for nearly the entire game and weren't interested in heading back to Anaheim down 0-2 in the series.

Cutter Gauthier scored the game-winner with less than five minutes remaining:

Ryan Poehling added an empty-net goal: the Ducks won 6-4, and the series, which now heads to California, is tied 1-1.

Connor McDavid was shut out again. He has zero points in two games since the start of the playoffs…

It's worth noting that the Oilers' captain appears to have gotten hurt during the game. Is he hampered by an injury, or has he been held scoreless in his last two games, just like that? 

3: Wyatt Johnston… wow! 

The series between the Wild and the Stars is so good. If you get a chance to watch a game, I highly recommend it…

With the game tied 2-2 yesterday, it was a former Canadiens player who stepped up for the Wild.

The big Michael McCarron scored to give his team the lead:

Except that the Stars are a tenacious team… and we saw that again last night. Mikko Rantanen did his thing, and that allowed Matt Duchene to tie the game in the third period.

Off to overtime! 

The first overtime period gave us some great hockey. We saw just how much Quinn Hughes and Mikko Rantanen hate each other, but…

But no goals were scored in the first overtime period.

It was almost 2 a.m. (Quebec time) when the game between the two teams finally ended.

It was Wyatt Johnston who sent everyone to bed with his 6th career game-winning goal in the playoffs. Reminder: the youngster is only 22 years old… and he's also coming off a 45-goal season.

To say he's talented would be an understatement… 


Overtime

– Top scorers of the night:

(Credit: Screenshot / NHL.com)

– Three games tonight:

(Credit: Screenshot / NHL.com)
facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!